Earlier than Etta Marcus may determine who she was as an artist, she simply wanted a bit of push. It might unexpectedly come firstly of the pandemic when the singer came upon she was being kicked out of jazz college – mockingly, for focusing an excessive amount of on her personal voice and never sufficient on the technicalities of the style. However this proved to be a turning level for the 21-year-old to pursue her personal music. By January 2022, Marcus had picked up the items and written her brooding debut EP ‘View From the Bridge’, launched independently to permit time for a bit of creative soul-searching.
The challenge was the primary glimmer of the voice of an artist making an attempt to unpack a interval of transition, one whose beguiling lyrics boasted the sharp storytelling prowess of Lana Del Rey and the moody self-awareness of Phoebe Bridgers. However such a particular and emotional fashion of songwriting invariably carried the chance of being named a ‘unhappy lady’, a restrictive label Marcus was eager to subvert on her second EP, ‘Coronary heart Formed Bruise’. “If anybody calls me one thing, I instantly wish to do the alternative,” the Londoner just lately instructed NME.
It’s no shock, then, that ‘Coronary heart Formed Bruise’ – Marcus’ first launch since signing with Polydor Data – finds the singer on sharper type, nonetheless grappling with the overhaul of the final three years whereas reflecting on the ugly demise of a relationship. “I’m the bitch that broke your nostril / I guess you slept with a darkish crimson pillow,” she asserts with biting depth on ‘Nosebleed’, deftly interweaving sinister undertones with simmering synths.
Vengeful lead single ‘Crown’ raises the tempo, opening with a brisk excessive hat and slick guitar line earlier than Marcus threatens to “burn down your palace” and “tear you down”. Shades of eerie, darkly poetic theatrics additionally trickle by closing monitor ‘Parting Music’, revealing a macabre lyrical twist that Marcus is definitely waving from the opposite aspect (“We’re headstones on a garden”).
‘Smile For the Digicam’, in the meantime, sees Marcus nonetheless bruised from her tutorial failings, confessing that she “can’t even smile for the digicam” at her brother’s commencement, her voice nestled in a springy, early noughties-indebted guitar riff. Nevertheless it’s the title monitor that finds the singer at her most lyrically susceptible. “There’s a coronary heart formed bruise,” she hums in a low drawl, cushioned by mellow strings and sobering violins. “Within the night time / I attain my hand out and really feel it with my finger.”
Marcus’ second EP looks like a frosted window into the aching coronary heart of an artist who’s writing her imperfect story in real-time. By mining the core of her deepest emotions, she’s pushing in direction of understanding herself higher.
Particulars
- Launch date: January 13
- Report label: Polydor
